Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Training for Diplomats Held in Hiroshima
UNITAR
Nearly 20 diplomats and government officials from Asian countries completed the UNITAR Hiroshima Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Training Programme, held 13-18 February 2023. The diplomats updated their understanding of the global nuclear debate and met young activists to learn about their initiatives for a nuclear-free world. The programme’s past two cycles were run virtually due to COVID-19-related restrictions. Learning about nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation in the symbolic city of Hiroshima offered participants a deep learning experience.
Launch of In-person Disaster Risk Reduction Training Programme in Samoa
UNITAR
After two years of virtual delivery, the UNITAR Hiroshima Women’s Leadership in Tsunami-based Disaster Risk Reduction Training Programme for World Tsunami Awareness Day will launch in-person training in Samoa on 7 March 2022. During the 5-day hybrid programme, 18 participants from eight countries will learn about gender-inclusive disaster risk reduction management, participate in immersive study tours, and develop disaster risk management plans for their countries.
Young Entrepreneurs from Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon Visit Japan for Entrepreneurship Training
UNITAR
Nineteen entrepreneurs from Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon completed the third phase of Great Ideas Space: Entrepreneurship for Public Health and Covid-19 Recovery in Egypt, Iraq and Lebanon in Japan. The participants, selected from the top performers of the first two phases, received mentorship and participated in culturally immersive study tours and in-person workshops. They built upon the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, innovation and public health, and developed practical skills to operationalize digital health and health-care innovations to address public health challenges and support COVID-19 recovery.
UNITAR and Hiroshima Prefecture to Host FinTech Conference
Photo licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
On 20 March 2023, UNITAR and Hiroshima Prefecture will host a free virtual conference “FinTech Ecosystem: Leveraging its impact in the economy and climate change”. High-level panellists from academia, international organizations and governments will explore how to improve development practice and policy in three thematic areas: FinTech in Development Practice, FinTech and Cybersecurity, and FinTech and Ecology. The conference will explore how countries can harness digitalization and FinTech for greater connectedness, development and progress towards the SDGs.
Share Your Voices! UNITAR Hiroshima Office 20th Anniversary Survey
Photo by dekddui1405, Envato Elements
The UNITAR Hiroshima Office will celebrate its 20th anniversary on 15 July 2023! To commemorate this milestone, we invite alumni, partners, resource persons and supporters to fill out an online survey and tell us about your experiences with UNITAR Hiroshima Office. With your consent, we will incorporate your voices, stories and celebratory messages into our anniversary celebration. Thank you for your continued support as we work together towards a peaceful and prosperous world.
Livelihood Development for Women and Youth in Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe
Photo by pexels omotayo tajudeen
UNITAR and Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA) launched a call for applications for the new training programme “Accelerating Sustainable and Climate Resilient Livelihoods”. The first phase will focus on agribusiness and development training. This programme will address social, economic and environmental challenges by supporting the development of small and medium agribusiness enterprises by women and youth in Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
UNITAR and Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University Sign Cooperation Agreement
UNITAR
On 7 October 2022, Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (APU) and UNITAR signed a collaboration memorandum. APU and UNITAR aim to strengthen their cooperation through knowledge exchange, learning opportunities and development projects in entrepreneurship and digital technology. Mihoko Kumamoto, Director of, the UNITAR Division for Prosperity, visited APU on 8 February 2023 to discuss the next steps.
Hiroshima High School Students Complete 2022 UNITAR Youth Ambassador Programme
UNITAR
Forty-eight high school students from Hiroshima completed the 2022 UNITAR Hiroshima Youth Ambassador Training Programme in August 2022. The programme aims to nurture future leaders and advocates. The Youth Ambassadors attended discussions – including a dialogue with Secretary-General António Guterres – and joined site visits and workshops. As a final project, they worked in teams to think about ways they could contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals and presented their ideas along the theme of “building a sustainable city”.
UNITAR and FAO “Trade and Food Security” Training Programme
Photo by kapusnak, Envato Elements
Officials from the Near East and North Africa (NENA) Region are invited to register by 14 May 2023 for UNITAR and FAO’s “Trade and Food Security” training programme. Limited slots are available for this free online course, delivered fully in Arabic. A UNITAR- FAO Certificate of Completion will be issued to participants who complete all course-related requirements. The training programme, which will run from 28 May to 22 June, aims to strengthen Arabic-speaking countries’ capacity to develop evidence-based trade policies, formulate and negotiate trade agreements, and ensure agricultural trade expansion works toward eliminating global hunger. UNITAR and FAO are offering a second edition of this course to meet demand from the region following the successful course launch in October 2021.
Our Impact
Photo courtesy of Dr. Sameh Al-Muqdadi
Solving Climate Change, Water Resource Management Expert
Sameh W. Al-Muqdadi is a German-Iraqi expert in water resources management and a resource person for UNITAR’s Great Ideas Space entrepreneurship training programmes. Acknowledging how governance and politics affect water resources and the role natural resources play in conflict as well as in peacebuilding, Sameh seeks to build fellow Iraqis’ capacity for environmental protection, water resource management and climate-change action.
Photo courtesy of Francine-Blanche Mengue
School Counsellor Fighting Corruption in Cameroon
Francine-Blanche Mengue is a high school guidance counsellor from Cameroon with a passion for discovering people and cultures. She joined the UNITAR Youth and Anti-corruption Programme in Sahel Region in 2019, where she realized how seemingly banal acts are related to corruption. The programme inspired Francine-Blanche and a fellow Cameroonian participant to convince the National Anti-Corruption Commission to set up decentralized bodies in the main cities in Cameroon.
Photo by Pressmaster, Envato Elements
Women and Youth Empowerment through Sports
Dr Hajar Abulfazl, former co-captain of the Afghanistan women’s national football team and human rights advocate, joined UNITAR Association’s online seminar on 22 October 2022, where she shared her insights on the role of sports in achieving peace. Dr Hajar took part in the UNITAR Leadership and Communication Training Programme in 2015. She sees sports as an instrument to empower women and youth, helping them realize their rights and full potential.
Photo courtesy of Sena Chang
A Digital Change-making Storyteller Inspiring Digital Inclusion for Older People
High school student Sena Chang is a change-making digital storyteller. She founded an online literary platform to pursue her advocacy work and empower fellow youth through journalism. In the 2022 UNITAR Youth Ambassadors Asia Pacific Programme, Sena was inspired by a workshop on technology, invention, and ethics and presented a project to develop an app that integrates data crunching and health monitoring to support older people.
Photo courtesy of Cynthia Achieng
Breaking the Gender Barrier in Agribusiness in Western Kenya
Cynthia Achieng is an agribusiness entrepreneur from Kenya. Through the Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Leadership Training for Women Entrepreneurs in Africa, Cynthia learned the skills to be financially disciplined and to manage and assess risks so she can realize her dream of scaling up her business.
Photo courtesy of Shumoos Ghanim Jaber
Pioneering Plant-based Solutions to Climate Change
Shumoos Ghanim Jaber is an Iraqi entrepreneur and an advocate for plant-based solutions to health and climate change. She completed UNITAR’s Great Ideas Space 2022: Entrepreneurship for Public Health and COVID-19 Recovery in Egypt, Iraq, and Lebanon, which allowed her to sharpen her business solutions and broaden her networks in green entrepreneurship.
Announcements
UNITAR Board of Trustees Member Visits Hiroshima Office
Professor Akiko Yuge, a member of the UNITAR Board of Trustees, visited the UNITAR Hiroshima Office from 16 – 18 February. She observed the final negotiation simulation and public seminar of the Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Training Programme. The simulation is the culmination of the diplomats’ training in Hiroshima. Her visit also allowed UNITAR Hiroshima Office staff to learn from her experiences in the United Nations and the academe.
UNITAR Youth Dialogue Session in Hiroshima
Leading up to the 2023 G7 summit, to be held 19-21 May in Hiroshima, UNITAR Division for Prosperity will host a youth dialogue session in Hiroshima on 17 April. A young person from each of the G7 countries will talk about their experiences in Hiroshima, where they currently live. They will also discuss the city's impact on their views of peace.
UNITAR recently launched a TikTok campaign to engage with youth on ways to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Follow our social media accounts to get updates!
UNITAR Division for Prosperity Is On TikTok!
UNITAR Division for Prosperity/Hiroshima Office is now on TikTok! We hope this will let more people on social media learn about and be in touch with UNITAR.
Connect with us on TikTok and let’s get interactive! You can also find us at @UnitarProsperityDivision.
The Spanish edition of FAO and UNITAR's joint e-Learning Course on “Trade, Food Security, and Nutrition” for Latin American policymakers, which launched in September 2022, is now complete. 70 participants from 16 countries were selected to participate in the course. The course helped strengthen policymakers’ capacity to design and implement agricultural, food security and trade policies that combat hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. The “Trade, Food Security and Nutrition” e-learning programme began in 2017 and has been one of FAO and UNITAR’s longest-running joint programmes.
Division for Prosperity Newsletter – March 2023
This is the seventh issue of the UNITAR Division of Prosperity quarterly newsletter. You can read all issues on our website or stay up to date by following us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter, and TikTok. To subscribe, please sign up here. If you have any questions or comments, we'd love to hear from you. Please email us at prosperity_communications@unitar.org. You may also download the PDF version of this newsletter by clicking the link to the file below.